Mental health services face cuts in Idaho

Share this story

BOISE (AP) - The state's mental health program hasdropped hundreds of clients in the past year amid staffing cutsthat were forced by budget holdbacks.

Administrator Kathleen Allyn told lawmakers Wednesday her agencyhas identified about 450 clients who had insurance, includingMedicaid, and referred them to private providers.

Sen. Diane Bilyeu, D-Pocatello, says she's concerned about howwell the state is following up with clients who were cut from thesystem, citing a shooting in eastern Idaho.

A man was shot last year while leaving a Pocatello coffee shopthat was near the home of another man who police say did theshooting soon after being removed from a state mental healthprogram.

It's been a hotly debated topic since the massacre in Tucson: are states doing enough to identify and help mentally disturbed people who may become violent?

Polls show the Tucson shootings which witnesses and police say were carried out by a mentally disturbed young man have many Americans worried the mental health system is failing to help people who pose a danger to the community.

Allyn says limited funding and staffing have forced her to prioritize. At the top of her list are intervention services for people in imminent danger to themselves or others.

Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter's recommended budget for the Department of Health and Welfare's mental health services division for fiscal year 2012 is $32.4 million, down 4.6 percent from 2011 and a full 19 percent less than in 2008.

The division has laid off or left unfilled 35 full time positions to assist adults with mental health problems, and another 14 positions to help kids.